Spirit Of Santa Lives In Antioch

December 23, 1991|By Christine Winter.

You wouldn`t think that December would bring out the Christmas spirit in the post office. Who could blame the already much-maligned postal employees if they turn Scroogelike during the holiday rush? Look at those stuffed mailboxes. Look at those long lines at every counter.

But, yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and kids in the north suburban postal division, which includes all the suburbs north of Interstate Highway 88 to the Wisconsin line, have written proof, thanks to the post offices in Antioch and Island Lake.

Late in the year, a memo goes out to all the postmasters in the north suburbs, advising them that they can ship their Santa letters to the two tiny post offices. Some of them don`t bother, of course, but others do. And then, thanks to the Antioch post office, Chamber of Commerce and park department, and one dedicated postal employee in Island Lake, Santa writes back.

``We got a thousand letters in one morning at the end of last week,``

said Jerry Parish, Antioch postmaster, who says he can`t bear to read the missives himself.

``They just tear your heart out,`` he said, admitting that he opened one from a 16-year-old Chicago girl who said her family was poor and she only wanted gifts for her younger brother and sister.

``I can`t handle it,`` he said, adding that he just happened to have a few stuffed toys in his basement that he plans to send along to those needy kids from Chicago. The letters, about 1,500 by the end of last week, are sent over to the village parks department, where they are answered with a form letter on Santa stationery, according to Antioch parks and recreation director Carol Todd.

The program has been going on for some years now, and Todd said answers used to be handwritten by volunteers, but the mail flow has gotten too big. The stationery and postage are provided by the Chamber of Commerce and community groups, and the envelope stuffing and addressing is done by local lawbreakers who got community service for a sentence.

Parish said word has gone beyond the north suburban postal division;

plenty of Santa letters have been forwarded to Antioch from Chicago, and as far away as South Carolina, Kentucky, and ironically, Alaska, which actually has a North Pole with its own post office.

The Island Lake post office, which has only eight employees, has sent about 40 handwritten letters, complete with candy canes, to Santa`s correspondents.

About 100 letters have actually reached Island Lake, but many don`t include return addresses, said Beverly Neift, the postal worker who voluntarily writes the letters on her own time every year. She said some of the letters that come in are local, in which case she personalizes her answers, but others come from nearby suburbs and even Chicago.

Local Santa

Homer Fogerty, 68, of Schaumburg, has been playing Santa during the holidays for nearly 45 years now.

He visits numerous children`s homes on his own time, hires out to shopping malls, portrait studios and private organizations, and has been known to pop into local restaurants in full regalia without warning. He`s had a

``Santa`` license on his car for years.

Fogerty, who bleaches his hair and natural, flowing beard white, has gone through quite a few custom-made Santa suits since his initial stint in 1947, when he wore a red peacoat with white cloth sewn on the front and a

``really silly`` white wig and beard. He donned the getup for his 2-year-old son, and was quickly talked into making appearances at neighbors`

houses. He`s been Santa ever since.

``It`s something I enjoy,`` said the ersatz Kris Kringle, who admits he has to use a little padding in the belly of his suit since his doctor put him on a diet after a recent heart attack.

``I was raised in an orphanage in Pennsylvania,`` he said. ``Santa used to come through and hang a Christmas stocking on our bedposts every year and I was fascinated.``

Mayor Santa

Michael O`Malley, newly svelte mayor of Hoffman Estates, who has dropped 130 pounds in recent months, says that a wonderful thing happened when he was playing Santa Claus at MacArthur school the other day.

``One of the kids said, `You can`t be Santa Claus, you`re too thin,`

`` he bragged. ``I answered, `God bless you,` and gave him two presents.``

O`Malley, who had never needed any help filling out his Santa suit, which he dons about a dozen times for public appearances around the village every Christmas, said he just hasn`t had time to get the right kind of stuffing and have it sewn in. He said little kids can spot a pillow every time.

``My suit is really baggy, and I even had to punch new holes in the belt,`` he said with pride.